Where Do You Think Bicycle Mini-Corrals Should Go?

Bicycling is a healthy way to get around town but when you get to your destination, where do you park your bike while you join a friend for coffee, shop or hang out on the beach or in a park?

With that in mind, community members are asking for your input for locations in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach that you think would be good spots for bicycle mini-corrals.

You can give your input tonight (Thursday, September 11) at a meeting at the Manhattan Heights Park in the Mt. Whitney Meeting Room from 7-9 p.m.

Those who attend the meeting will learn about bicycle mini-corrals and bike parking options; hear about existing bike parking and needs, and brainstorm locations for bicycle mini-corrals.Should you miss the meeting or have ideas later, you can add your mini-corral location suggestion on the online South Bay Bicycle Mini-Corral Plan. The page on this site shows the locations of existing corrals, as well as bike paths, lanes and routes. It also shows suggested corral locations and planned bike paths, lanes, routes and bike-friendly streets.

"In its simplest form, a bike corral takes a single car parking space and retrofits it to become parking for 10 or more bikes," said Joe Galliani, founder, organizer and spokesperson for the South Bay 350 Climate Action Group.

"It (a bike corral) frees up pedestrian space because bikes that used to be chained to parking meters and sign posts on the sidewalk move into the street."

Galliani also says, "When these corrals are used at the corners of streets, they greatly increase the visibility for cars turning."

The Riviera Village (Redondo Beach) bike corral shown in the photo, has spaces for 16 bicycles. The diagonal parking space it replaced was a red zone where vehicles were not permitted to park, so no parking spaces were lost, says Galliani, who notes that "replacing one pollution-emitting vehicle for 16 zero emission vehicles shouldn't be anything to complain about—especially when there are so many other advantages that come with adding bike corrals."